Certified Mindfulness Training Course (Level 1, 2019)

One of the weekends of the Certificated Mindfulness Training Course, which was organised in Zagreb by Mindfulness Hrvatska is behind this group of people. They enjoyed every moment of it in studying and practicing together. This training weekend provided an opportunity to reach a deeper understanding of practicing mindfulness through presentations, discussions and meditation.

The Mindfulness Hrvatska Team is very proud of having this training course in Croatia. We all look forward to continue Module One in the coming weeks and bring more mindfulness knowledge and practice among the community we live and work with.

Here are some of the impressions of the participants:

“I am leaving this module with a couple of questions/assignments for myself, which I think is a great platform for any further development. Thank you!”

“I like both of the tutors very much I like the group and how we share our experiences openly. Each practise is a new discovery of how to settle my mind and what can be a support in that practise. The patterns and acceptance are the two concepts that I liked and discovered as very beneficial. Being ok with the monkey mind is so liberating.”

“It was like a retreat for me. Coming home to myself but also into the beauty of present moment in company with so warm, caring and loving people is tremendous. I feel like I charged myself and can’t wait for home practice and experiences that will come after this. Definitely I didn’t expect so much insights and so much love and support. I feel like I found a new important tribe and I can’t wait for second weekend.”

“The group feels like a safe environment, so the weekend was highly beneficial. I heard new information on mindfulness and those I already heard, I heard in a new way.”

“It’s a bliss when you give yourself the time to just be present. This weekend gave me the focus, calmness, safety and support to express myself, and the chance to get to know and understand myself better.”

“I found this weekend very beneficial – it was dedicated to myself – two days of learning new skills (techniques) application of which gives a lot of insight about myself, my inner processes and reactions in outer surroundings. It helps me to be more understanding and kind towards myself and automatically, others. With every exercise I learned something new, even though the exercise may repeat, the inner experience is always different.”

Mindfulness Hrvatska in partnership with the UK Mindfulness Association, is pleased to offer in 2019, for the first time in Zagreb, the ‘Certified Mindfulness Training Course.’

This in-depth course explores core mindfulness practices and the underpinning thinking and theory. It is ideal for people who have completed the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Living Course (MBLC). The ‘Certified Mindfulness Training Course.’ takes place over 4 weekends, spread over 8 months. The course results in a completion certificate which is the prerequisite for entering the Mindfulness Association’s mindfulness teacher training pathway which, it is planned, Mindfulness Hrvatska will also be running in 2019. This training pathway leads to qualification to teach mindfulness courses, such as the MBLC.

Participants on the ‘Certified Mindfulness Training Course’ will be taught progressive skills in Mindfulness through presentations, guided practice and small group sessions. A strong emphasis is placed upon experiential learning and there is an expectation that participants will develop a regular mindfulness practice. There will be home assignments that include, in addition to practicing mindfulness, daily life exercises, journal writing and online discussions.

The Lead Tutor for the course is Anna Zubrzycki, from Wroclaw in Poland. As well is being an actor and artistic director, Anna is the founder and director of Mindfulness Association Poland. Anna has practiced secular mindfulness since 1993 and has trained with Rob Nairn the founder of the Mindfulness Association UK and the developer of the unique approach to secular training in Mindfulness.

The Assistant Tutor for the course is David McMurtry. David has lived in Zagreb since 2015 and taught the UK Mindfulness Association’s 8-week ‘Mindfulness Based Living Course’ to nearly 100 participants over the last 3 years. Before moving to Zagreb, David was the co-Founder and Director of the University of Aberdeen’s Studies in Mindfulness Masters degree.

The Certified Mindfulness Training Course, which will be taught in English, comprises of 4 modules, each of which is introduced at a training weekend.

Module 1: Start Where You Are
Mindfulness is defined as paying attention to our moment by moment experience in a way that is non-judgmental and kind. We are initiated into this graduated process through the core sitting practice of settling, grounding, resting and mindfulness support. We also practice body-scan and walking meditation and simple practices for integrating mindfulness into daily life. We simultaneously work on developing kindness as a basis for self-compassion.

Module 2: Working With Distraction
Having had the opportunity to practice settling, grounding, resting and support on a daily basis since Weekend One, we are now in a position to become more familiar with how the mind moves and the unique pathways of habit it follows. We become increasingly familiar with the changing dynamic of mindfulness and distraction, and begin to see how distraction reveals an inner world of habitual patterning that ensnares our energies. We also begin to recognise attitudes of preference – like and dislike – and see how they narrow and contract our awareness, imprisoning us. In this context we learn to be able to see the difference between habitual reactions driven by conditioning and informed choices based on intelligent discernment.

Module 3: Self Acceptance
Throughout our training we are working in two areas – redirecting our attention to the present moment by using a mindfulness support, while at the same time learning to accept the diverse range of our inner experience. Part of mindfulness practice is learning to work with strong emotions that arise and developing the capacity to ‚hold’ difficult experiences within body and mind. Identifying our reactive patterns of preference reveals how working on attitude is all important, and so, through training in acceptance we learn to acknowledge and come to terms with difficult thoughts and emotions by paying them close attention with a kind and inclusive attitude. This leads to a gradual dis-identification with the contents of our experience and shift in perspective in which we come to see that we are not our thoughts.

Module 4: Undercurrent and Observer
During this module we bring together all the themes from the previous three modules and help participants set up an ongoing mindfulness practice for going forward in their lives. At this point we explore the model of ‘undercurrent and observer’ as a way of mapping out the inner landscape of our mind and identifying where change can take place. The ‘undercurrent’ refers to the continuous stream of thoughts, emotions, memories and images that stream through our mind moment by moment, whether we like it or not. The ‘observer’ refers to that part of our mind that sees the undercurrent and has the capacity to reflect on itself. As our practice deepens we learn to step out of the undercurrent and simply leave it alone. Instead, we focus on working with the attitudes of preference in our observer as this is where genuine change can take place.

Dates
The four weekends are to be held on the following dates. Each day is from 10:00-16:00 and will be in Gornje Grad, Zagreb. The weekends are not residential.